Thursday, March 20, 2008


Maxi Priest is the new lead singer of British reggae band, UB40. He has replaced Ali Campbell as the new front man of the band which has decided to carry on despite an acrimonious split with Campbell after a festering row with management. The collaboration with Priest has already yielded a recording of Bob Marley's I Shot The Sheriff and is expected to form half of a double A-side single soon. Priest joined UB40 on tour last year, culminating in sellout shows at the NEC in December. He had top ten hits with Wild World in 1988 and Close To You in 1990. He has worked with Sly and Robbie, Roberta Flack, Shaggy, Shabba Ranks, Joe and Dennis Brown.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Michael Campbell aka Mikey Dread Dies at 54


Jamaican radio DJ and producer Mikey Dread – perhaps best known to rock fans for his work with the Clash – succumbed to a brain tumor at his sister's home in Connecticut . He was 54.

Born Michael Campbell, Dread played an important role in the sonic evolution of the Clash, producing their 'Bankrobber' single in 1980 and appearing on several cuts (including 'Junco Partner') of the band's subsequent sprawling, three-disc release, 'Sandinista!'

"I remember going into the studio to make this track ['Bankrobber']," Dread said in 2006. "And when I heard the track, I wasn't sure about it, because it was too fast. I couldn't understand what Joe [Strummer] was saying. So I told him to slow it down, and we could make it reggae style. And I showed him the beat. And then they didn't have a keyboard player, so I said, 'Reggae has to have a keyboard' -- it can't just have two guitars and drum and bass. And they get Mickey Gallagher."

Dread, who helped introduce underground reggae to mainstream Jamaican radio as a respected disc jockey on the Jamaican Broadcasting Corporation via his 'Dread at the Controls' program, also recorded reggae hits as an artist, including 'African Map' and 'Barber Saloon.'

In late 1979, Dread did a press junket to England, which reaped stories in U.K. music papers of the day such as the NME, Sounds and 'Melody Maker. "I guess [the Clash] may have read about me being there," Dread explained in July 2006. "But by the time they contacted me, I was back in. I never know what punk was."

Thursday, March 13, 2008

!Coco Tea all for Obama!

The tribute song "Barack Obama" will be released this week by New York's VP Records.
"It's about the changes, what the Americans need."

Click To Hear the Song

Waiting for the bunny to Attack!!!

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Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Totally Noted Chic-ness


overshadowed by the other or Not!


This just in !!


Martin Scorsese is going to be pissed! The Weinstein Company has optioned the rights to "No Woman No Cry: My Life With Bob Marley" (pick up a copy on Amazon.com), a book written by Bob Marley's widow Rita Marley, with plans to turn it into a biopic about the legendary Jamaican reggae singer. Scorsese previously announced that he would be directing a documentary about Marley that would be aiming for a February 2010 release. Now No Woman No Cry is going to hit theaters right before it, in late 2009. Apparently a biopic has had issues getting approved by Rita previously, but now this time this one has made it through and is heading into production.

Although no director is attached yet, Lizzie Borden (Working Girls, "Red Shoe Diaries") has written the script and Rudy Langlais (The Hurricane) will produce alongside of Rita Marley, who will be operating as executive producer. The project is only in very early development, which means it won't be some time until we see a director or cast attached.

Rita's book focuses more on the couple's tempestuous marriage, which began in 1966 and weathered numerous separations and affairs, the birth of four children together and an assassination attempt in 1976. Bob Marley died of cancer at 36 in 1981, and in the book, Rita Marley defends herself against accusations that she financially mismanaged the estate. You can read more about Bob Marley's tremendous life in Martin Scorsese's previous article.

"This is about a girl from the ghetto and a boy from the rural areas," Marley said. "It's more than being a superstar — we have trod the rocky roads. It's more than just a story, it's a reality."


Source


Redemption biopic: Bob Marley!!


The first ever biopic of Bob Marley is in the works, after film producers Bob and Harvey Weinstein optioned the rights to the autobiography of the reggae star's widow, Rita Marley.

The movie will be based on the 2004 memoir No Woman No Cry: My Life with Bob Marley, which chronicles the couple's tempestuous 15-year marriage until his death from cancer in 1981. The couple had four children together, survived several separations and affairs - Marley could have fathered as many as 22 children, and legally recognised ten - and an assassination attempt in 1976.



Rita Marley will serve as executive producer on the project. "This is about a girl from the ghetto and a boy from the rural areas," she told Variety. "It's more than being a superstar - we have trod the rocky roads. It's more than just a story, it's a reality."

"Every inch of me is in there," she also told The Hollywood Reporter. "I don't want a fairy tale or Cinderella story."

Marley would like her husband's daughter-in-law, singer-songwriter Lauryn Hill, to portray her. "Lauryn would be ideal [to play me]," Marley explained. "She sees my life as her life." Hill is married to Rohan Marley, the son the reggae star had with Janet Hunt.

The as-yet-untitled project will be directed by Rudy Langlais, an executive producer on the 1999 Denzel Washington film The Hurricane. The film will be an "epic romance", Langlais told The Hollywood Reporter. "It's miraculous that Rita is still here after being shot in the head," he added, referring to the assassination attempt on the couple.

Screenwriter Lizzie Borden is currently in Jamaica to finish the script. Filming is set to begin early next year with a view to release the biopic in cinemas in 2009. It's expected the movie will partly be filmed in Jamaica.

It is as yet unclear who will portray the legendary musician. The film-makers are looking for two actors, one who would portray Marley aged 15 and the other one as an adult.

The project comes hot on the heels of another film about the reggae star. Martin Scorsese announced last week that he will direct a documentary about Bob Marley, co-produced by his son Ziggy. They are looking to release the film on February 6 2010, on what would have been the singer's 65th birthday.

Nor is this the first attempt to bring Bob Marley's life to the big screen. In 1999, Hollywood studio Warner Brothers planned to make a biopic based on Catch a Fire, a 1991 biography by Timothy White. Rohan Marley and Lauryn Hill were then considered to portray Bob and Rita Marley, but the project fell through after director Ron Shelton, and his replacement George Armitage, left the project.





Natty Notes

  • What I can't wait for in a Peter Tosh Movie.
  • I am Looking forward to this Bob Marley Movies though.